Alfred McCoy Tyner is
a jazz pianist from Philadelphia known for his work with the John Coltrane
Quartet and a long solo career. Tyner is considered to be one of the most
influential jazz pianists of the 20th century, an honor he earned during and
after his time with Coltrane.
Although he was a
member of Coltrane's group, he was never overshadowed by Coltrane. He
complemented and inspired Coltrane's open approach. His style of piano is
comparable to Coltrane's maximalist style on saxophone.
Tyner and Coltrane
used similar scales, chordal structures, melodic phrasings, and rhythms.
Tyner, who is
left-handed, plays with a low bass left hand in which he raises his arm high
above the keyboard for an emphatic attack. His right-hand soloing is detached
and staccato.
His melodic vocabulary
is rich, ranging from raw blues to complexly superimposed pentatonic scales;
his approach to chord voicing (most characteristically by fourths) has
influenced contemporary jazz pianists, such as Chick Corea.